Over the last four years, Assemblymember Jenifer Rajkumar became a citywide presence—standing next to Mayor Eric Adams in a trademark red dress, and attempting to make the jump to citywide office with unsuccessful runs for comptroller and public advocate.
Now Adams is out of office, and Rajkumar is fighting to keep her own Queens seat against a democratic socialist challenger—one of a series of state legislative seats the NYC-DSA, emboldened by Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s victory, are aiming to flip this year.
David Orkin, an immigration and labor attorney endorsed by the DSA, kicked off his campaign last week. The district includes parts of Ridgewood, Glendale, Woodhaven, Richmond Hill and Ozone Park—diverse turf encompassing pockets of white middle class homeowners, immigrant enclaves, and young newcomers. In the 2025 Democratic primary, Mamdani beat former Governor Andrew Cuomo there by a 40-point margin.
"Jenifer Rajkumar is Eric Adams's last ally in Albany, and it's clear that people in Queens and all over New York want good government rather than corruption," Orkin told Hell Gate. "People want to get rid of everything associated with Adams's administration, and that includes anyone who's his ally."